Deformations of the vacuum solutions of general relativity subjected to linear constraints

Abstract

The problem of deforming geometries is particularly important in the context of constructing new exact solutions of Einstein's equation. This issue often appears when extensions of the general relativity are treated, for instance in brane world scenarios. In this paper we investigate spacetimes in which the energy-momentum tensor obeys a linear constraint. Extensions of the usual vacuum and electrovacuum solutions of general relativity are derived and an exact solution is presented. The classes of geometries obtained include a wide variety of compact objects, among them black holes and wormholes. The general metric derived in this work generalizes several solutions already published in the literature. Perturbations around the exact solution are also considered.